If you’ve never heard of this festival, that’s because this is the first. Co-owner of the Ellington Jazz Club Graham Wood, who is also Program Director of Music at the WA Academy of Performing Arts, has planned the festival as an extension of the club, though PIJF is a not-for-profit incorporated association.

PIJF aims to become nationally and internationally acclaimed as one Australia’s best Jazz festivals within five years. The three-day festival hopes to attract 15,000 people to paid and free events. More than 40 performances will be presented over seven stages — The Perth Concert Hall, Bishop’s Gardens, Perth Cultural Centre, Brookfield Place, Weld Square, Barrack Square and The Ellington Jazz Club.

The only Jazz festival in Western Australia, PIJF is intended as a regular event in Perth’s cultural calendar and a source of long-term cultural and economic return. There will be an educational component and PIJF provides access for diverse and disadvantaged sections of the community.

The major headline act for the inaugural festival is saxophonist Joe Lovano, who has eight Grammy Award nominations (winning in 2001 for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album), is signed to the famous Blue Note record label and has worked with some of the biggest names in international jazz. He will perform in a headline concert with four-time Aria Award winning vocalists Katie Noonan and Vince Jones at the Perth Concert Hall on Saturday 25 May at 7.30pm.

Lovano will open the evening with a set accompanied by Perth musicians Sam Anning (now living in New York) on bass, Ben Vanderwal on drums and Tal Cohen on piano.

Katie Noonan in concert.

Lovano collaborated with Noonan on her 2009 ARIA Award-winning release Blackbird. After a few numbers with Lovano, Noonan will perform music from her album Elixir featuring Steve Magnusson (guitar) and Zac Hurren (saxophones). Noonan will also perform duets with celebrated vocalist Vince Jones, with whom she worked on Songs of Love and War.Noonan and Jones will be backed by a trio led by pianist Matt McMahon (piano).

In a media release, PIJF Artistic Director, Associate Professor Graham Wood said, “I’m genuinely excited to hear and see such an amazing selection of musicians performing, as well as collaborating, for the Lovano/Noonan/Jones concert. To see artists of this calibre as headline acts on separate concerts would be sensational, but to combine them on the one bill headlining PIJF will provide a rare experience that promises to be extraordinary.”

Other artists on the program include the cutting edge Kneebody (USA), guitarist Gilad Hekselman (Israel/USA) and gypsy jazz from the UK guitarist Hank Marvin. Some of Perth’s favourite sons, now based overseas, who are returning to help celebrate include bassist Sam Anning, saxophonists Troy Roberts and Brandon Allen and eclectic trio ‘The Grid’ (featuring Tim Jago, Dane Alderson and Ben Vanderwal), and fusion supergroup ‘VOID’.

The Collective has created this compilation to contribute to the recovery efforts in Japan after the devastating March earthquakes and flood. It includes previously unreleased material from new Listen/Hear artists Kynan Tan and Peter Knight. Other contributors include Johannes Luebbers Dectet (a real hit at Wangaratta Festival of Jazz); Motion and a remix of its Hear Now by Canadian-based Italian sound artist, Giorgio Magnanensi; The Grid; Mace Francis Orchestra; big band ATM15 and The Twoks. That is a great line-up.

It is worth getting regardless of the album’s fundraising potential for a good cause. Have a listen, hear and collectively hit the “buy now” button. And I don’t work for L/H Collective, in case you’re asking!

The Collective says all proceeds go to the Japanese Red Cross and you can immediately download the 11-track album in your choice of 320k mp3, FLAC, or “just about any other format you could possibly desire”. I think “desire” is a bit strong when we are talking types of downloads, but there you go. That’s publicist lingo, perhaps.

WILD the west may be, but this dectet, under the “baton” of Johannes Luebbers, was all about restraint and finesse. I was reminded of Maria Schneider Orchestra albums, which I love, and Luebbers studied with her and admits she has been an influence. But we were treated to exquisite original compositions — The Exquisite Corpse of Beethoven, Til Death Does Me Part, Eternity, Everything for Brod, Just Ripe and Rumour Has It — from Luebbers’ two albums Make Some Noise and The Exquisite Corpse of Beethoven.

This was a highlight of the festival and it had only just begun. We heard intricately crafted layers of exquisite timbres, with the varied instruments never seeming to be overwhelmed and each having a chance to feature. Luebbers was attentive to his dectet, at times indicating restraint was in order from the richly expressive trumpet of G’Froerer. Steph Nicholls was another standout on oboe, but this was not about individual virtuosity. There was delicate interplay as the dectet explored varied, detailed landscapes.

Some passages were sombre, others showed energy and fun. Highlights included a horn solo in Til Death Does Me Part, with flute floating at the edges, and the soulful oboe in Eternity. In Everything for Brod the piano chords were appropriately muted and flattened, which seemed to ground the rich harmonies in the piece. G’Froerer’s horn solo in Just Ripe was capable of melting the hardest of hearts. Rumbling and rasping from piano, horns and drums in Rumour Has It preceded a soaring oboe before a slow, stately interlude that evolved into cinematic drama. In all, there was a sense of development.